Shut up and swim!
by skouratapramata
Summary: Lovino teaches Gilbert to swim. Humour and fluff ensues. A relaxed get-together story! For Prumano Secret Santa Event 2015, have a happy new year, de-anon! Prumano, Prussia X Romano/South Italy.
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing!

Romano was done downloading pictures of Germany and Prussia from the internet, and adding a variety of mustaches on them with Photoshop. It did very little to soothe his irritation. He mechanically began cleaning the house. All he wanted was a quiet week, away from everything and everyone, and now he had to put up with three self-invited guests. All he wanted was to spend this rare, obligation-free week of June at his place in Puglia, by the sea, swimming alongside the few people who had discovered the small passage to the beach almost right in front of his cottage, cooking for himself, reading in the balcony, sleeping, and, in the evenings, going to the open-air cinema at the small town near-by. Alone.

Instead, Feliciano had called to let him know that he had decided to invite himself, his boyfriend, and his boyfriend's brother to his week-long paradise, that was by now looking like something closer to hard labour.

Feliciano coming was not so bad, even though it meant double work, but spending time with his brother always made Romano happy. He had this feeling that he could not live with or without Feli, he was the person he loved the most, but also the person to bust his balls most easily.

But, Germany and Prussia? Germany annoyed him just by existing. That sneaky Conan the Barbarian had managed to keep Feli's affection even after all this torture he had put everyone through back in his younger days, and now he still kept it despite being his well-known anal self. He would have to put up with him with minimal swearing, because of Feliciano.

And Prussia? The court's clown? He was pleasant enough, Romano supposed, and he was a good distraction in world meetings, when things were getting too boring, or when Romano's own nerves were getting to the others. Prussia would always come up with something so ridiculous (and funny, he had to admit) that everyone would automatically be distracted. Like when he made a grave, and absolutely well thought-out presentation about how revival of the country of Prussia would give a serious financial push to the surrounding countries, including Germany, which would of course have to give up some of his own land. That was one unexpected treat! It had put the whole meeting in disarray, and gave them one free afternoon that was not foreseen by the official schedule. Yes, if he could put up with Germany for a week, surely he could do the same for Prussia.

Romano huffed. His dream-week would not have turned like this if he was in a relationship. Feliciano would never have dared to invite himself and his duo of faithful servants. Or maybe he would impose himself on a couple, just because he was who he was.

This kind of thinking was relatively recent in Romano's mind. He blamed long-term peace for these thoughts. He had never before actually considered a steady relationship, finding a nation of his own, and being together for as long as they could. And who could it possibly be? Everyone had thought he would end up with Antonio, who was indeed his best friend, but who could put up with this occasionally blood-thirsty fool for long? It was no wonder the Netherlands, who had committed himself to Spain was high all the time. And then there were all those happy couples of complete opposites around him, Finland and Sweden, his own brother and the overgrown Kraut, America and Ukraine, Greece and Japan, even Russia and Canada for crying out loud. And let's not mention France and England. Pretending to hate each other, when everyone knew they have been happily together for almost two centuries now. Maybe this pretended dislike was some kind of a role game they enjoyed. Pervs! They made him sick. Or jealous. Whatever.

By now Romano had cleaned everything in the cottage, and decided it was time he let his romantic ideas die down for the moment to consider the logistics of the visit. The happy couple would get the second floor, where the only available double bed was found. Romano had postponed putting curtains there, as he rarely used that floor, and there were windows everywhere. Maybe the morning sun would do him a favour and burn the annoying pair to ashes.

Him and Prussia would have to share the first floor. It was smaller, but had the bigger balcony overlooking the sea. He would have been a touch more hospitable and offer Prussia the only single room available, but it was too hot at nights. Prussia would definitely prefer the couch on the sitting room, where one could leave the windows open and allow a nice breeze to flow through. So, the pink flowery pattern of bed sheets for Feli (mwa ha ha live with it, Germany), the usual '70s psychedelic pattern for him, and Star War sheets for the couch.

Right as he was making sure the couch cover over the Star War sheets was immaculately spread, he heard the car going through the gate and parking in his small garden. Three tired and sweaty passengers emerged, and Feliciano run straight to Romano who went out to greet them.

"Hello, hello, brother!" Feli exclaimed while hugging Romano tight.

"Welcome Feliciano! Now get off me, it's too hot for hug therapy!" he said while pushing him aside.

"Welcome to you too, I guess…" Romano said looking towards the two German brothers who also came close to shake hands with him.

Germany was more civil: "Thanks for inviting us!"

"Well, it wasn't exactly me who invited you!" Romano responded throwing a menacing look at Italy, but lifting a couple of pieces of baggage from the bootlid nevertheless.

"Yes, but you wanted us here anyway! Cause we're awesome!" Prussia smiled.

Romano was ready to answer, but had no time:

"Wow, what a kick-ass place!" Prussia continued. He climbed up the stairs that led to the balcony of the first floor fast and whistled. "Nice house, Lovino! What a cute garden! And you can see the edge of the village from here! And the marina we passed by as we were driving here, and a full view of the sea! Oh, you can go nude here? I can see that woman's.."

Romano begun flailing his arms to get Prussia's attention and whispered: "Shush, we 're close, fuck, they can hear you!"

Prussia seemed puzzled: "Why, doesn't she know already she has no bathing suit on?"

Romano covered his face with his two palms. "God, this is going to be one long week…"

Soon the house was shown, and rooms allocated. After a not exactly subtle show of appreciation from Prussia for his Star War sheets that made Romano feel warm inwardly, everyone was sitting on the wooden chairs around the table in the balcony, sipping cold lemonade.

Germany, as serious as ever, was trying subtly to get the two Italian brothers to inform him on the visit schedule. Feliciano laughed, and passed his hand through Germany's strands ruining the hairdo: "It's vacation, Ludwig! It's summertime, there is no time table! We can sleep, we can eat, we can go on a walk whenever we feel like it!"

Germany seemed a bit disappointed and quite disoriented by Feli's plan for their vacation or lack thereof, but accepted his fate with grace: "Very well! No plan's the plan! I wouldn't mind giving that a try!"

"Exactly, bastard!" Romano exclaimed. "And right now, I say it's swim time!" he declared getting up from his seat. "Hope you brought your swimwear for Italian haute couture does not make clothing for pale asses!"

Prussia looked a bit alarmed and intervened with a muffled voice: "How about some food first?"

Gemany was surprised: "But you ate on the way here… a whole piadina with roasted pork…"

"And a cheese pie, and a big cannolo with orange cream, and a soda…" Feliciano added.

"Still hungry…" Prussia said guiltily.

Boy, was this guy a glutton, Romano thought. With his eating rhythms they 'd never make it to the beach the whole week… "With all this food you ate we can forget about swimming anyway. You'd directly go to the bottom of the sea and I would hate to feed the fish there with the pork in your stomach. It might be heavy for them…"

Feliciano could not help himself as the thought of food made him realize his own empty stomach. He screamed: "PASTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" and everyone relocated to the kitchen, where the two Italian brothers quickly prepared a divine pasta napolitana, and the German brothers cleared the mess afterwards.

The food was delicious. Romano could see Prussia had trouble getting up from the table. He offered his tired and full with food guests a quick midday nap, which they all happily took.

A couple of hours later, everyone was refreshed and on their feet. It was time to visit the beachside.

It was by now around 5 in the afternoon and the sun was still strong. Romano and Feliciano told the others to put on their swimsuits and take a towel with them, and nothing more. They got a couple of water bottles, and some sunscreen. They put their flip flops on, walked down the stairs, through the garden, past the gate, and walked the rest of the slope that was planted irregularly with pines to reach the beach. It took them less than a minute from their door to the beautiful spot.

The wide beach had no sand, but small, gray and white pebbles. On one side, a couple of kilometers away, the beach was part of the nearby town, and on the other side of it, much closer, there was a rock barrier that hid the small marina close-by. In front of them, the sea, calm as olive oil, only blue and green colours.

Lovino just ignored the others, left his towel under a pine and his flip flops in front of the thin wave, and fell happily into the sea. He had put some sunscreen on ten minutes before they left the house so not to have to wait when they got there. He instantly dove and resurfaced later thirty meters from his diving point. He kept swimming, and diving for some time, just enjoying the water.

The rest were still putting sunscreen on. Soon, Feliciano and Germany followed. Lovino was watching them from afar, as they were swimming towards the deep waters to reach him.

Germany's style was impeccable. Lovino was –secretly- impressed every time he would happen to see him swim, and it happened almost every summer due to his dating Feli. Still, he knew that all of Germany's style came from training in the swimming pool, rather than the sea. When there were bigger waves Germany had to stay where his feet could reach the seabed. And he was such a laugh to watch trying to deal with pebbles, if the beach was not a sandy one, or watching his dealings with sea creatures. Lovino tried to stifle a laugh as he remembered Germany's attempt to walk the slightly sharp pebbles to get into the sea a couple of minutes ago.

Feliciano, on the other hand had a great swimming style, because, as Lovino, he had from his younger days spent a lot of his time on the beach. Nevertheless, he preferred to play with the water than skim through it. He would dive, and go snorkeling with his mask, play with urchins, try to "drown" and splash his friends whenever they less expected it. The child setting was complete, when, tired, he would sit on a beach and play with the sand or pebbles.

Lovino was different from both of them. His swimming style lacked Germany's perfection. And he did not care for many of the games his brother played. He swam and swam, he could swim swiftly in relatively big waves, he could dive for minutes and swim underwater for long distances, he could reach the seabed without any equipment up to a dozen meters deep. Lovino loved to "explore" the rocks in unknown beaches, he could fish, and he hunt for octopuses, something his cousin Herakles had taught him when they were children.

Lord, did he like the water! He was already almost an hour in it, he had swam to the marina and back, he had dived to the seabed, played and chatted a little bit with his brother, and gotten rid of a couple of urchins on the seabed too close to the shore, that consisted a potential danger for anyone entering the sea. Beside him, Feliciano was trying hard to sink Germany, who was obviously enjoying the game, even if he was making weak complaints. Where was Prussia, though?

Lovino remembered him going on a walk towards the direction of the town through the beach, returning at some point with a cool bottle of water he had bought, walking then towards the rocks, and throwing pebbles in the sea. Taking a look around, Lovino spotted Prussia lying quietly under their pine and reading a comic book. Not once in the water. What a loser! He had the best sea in the world in front of him, an opportunity of cooling himself off from the heat, but he preferred goofing around and reading primary school material.

This kind of felt like an insult to him and his country. Lovino knew he was overreacting, three minutes ago he did not care about where the guy even was, and now he had somehow managed to insult him by doing practically nothing. He had to make his visitor appreciate the beauty of the place! He got out of the water and went to shake the water off his arms and on Prussia who had not seen him approach.

"Hey! What are you doing? Prussia shouted. "This Donald Duck book was brand new!"

Lovino could not feel remorse for throwing salt water on a comic book. "What are _you_ doing? Get up! You have not swum at all! The water is great!"

Prussia was still lying on his back, holding his book on his chest. "I don't feel like it! It's too warm to get into the sun! I have delicate skin!"

"I saw you walking towards the town, Prussia! And you have no problems, your sunscreen is working fine!"

"You saw that? Well, I, I just don't want to be in the sun anymore" Prussia stammered.

"Then why are you here? Why are you on the beach? You could have stayed at the balcony enjoying the view. Come on, just five minutes, you'll love it!"

Lovino grabbed Prussia's arm and pulled him upwards. He kept pulling him until they reached the edge of the water, Prussia's resistance stronger by the meter.

"Okay, okay!" Prussia shouted releasing his arm. "I'll go, don't make such a fuss!" He slowly proceeded towards the water and begun entering. He stood knee-high in water, walked a bit around sending a worried look towards the deep, and after a while commented: "It's fucking cold, though…"

Lovino spent a short time looking puzzled at Prussia with his hands on his waist.

"Are you kidding me?" Lovino complained. "You have been forcing us to listen to all those stories about how you can camp in the wild forests on any weather, how you never get cold singing the Christmas carols in the streets of Berlin, how to shelter effectively in the snow when waiting for a battle to begin, how you like hunting in the snow cause it makes your "adventure", "a touch" more challenging, and now you tell me this is too cold for you?"

"Well, there is a reason for being in the cold on these occasions, there is none now…"

"I will make it easier for you, don't worry!" said Romano, as he put his hands on Prussia's torso and pushed him towards the deep side of the water.

It was so sudden that Prussia yelped, and fell back, being for one moment submerged in the shallow water. He quickly begun flailing his arms and legs, in a frantic manner that Lovino would have found absolutely hilarious, weren't Prussia in an obvious panic. As soon as his face emerged he cried for help, and until his bottom discovered the seabed only a few centimeters bellow him, his open mouth had been filled with water by the waves he himself had created around him.

When he realized he was safe, panting and coughing, he looked at Lovino, with something between embarrassment and anger in his eyes. Lovino felt sorry for him, but there was no way he could pretend he had not seen that.

"You can't swim? You can't swim, really?!" Lovino was at a loss.

Prussia got up, his face redder than anything Lovino had ever seen, got out of the sea, and walked towards his towel and comic book. Lovino followed him.

"You should have said something, I would't have been such an ass, it's your fault, really…" Lovino continued.

Once Prussia reached his things, he turned around abruptly to angrily look at the Italian: "Shut up, okay? Just let me be!" He picked up his stuff and quickly took the route to the house.

Lovino could not remember a time when Prussia was actually angry at him. He could barely remember him being angry at anyone. He could not have that. So he picked up his stuff, and followed him to the house.

"Hey, Prussia," he shouted, "wait up!" He ran after him frantically. "Come on, I am sorry, I had no idea!"

Prussia reached the house and climbed up the stairs to the balcony. He turned to look at Lovino, he exhaled deeply and sat defeated on a chair. Lovino did not have much else to say, so he sat close to Prussia too. Prussia was looking at the floor, but Lovino could see him through the corner of his eye taking short glances at him.

"So… why?" Lovino broke the silence.

Prussia scrunched his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Yes, why? Why can't you swim, damn it? Any adult knows how to swim! It's abnormal, don't you get it? It's like not being able to ride a bike!" Lovino felt he was not helping, but Prussia did not seem so bummed.

"Well, I never had to…" he shrugged. "When I was young sitting in water was considered unhealthy you know… Besides," he continued with refreshed courage, "I am too awesome to need such skills! You don't need swimming in a battle, or for blogging, or cleaning, or playing the flute, or…"

Lovino interrupted him: "You play the flute?"

Prussia's cockiness was back in his cheeky smile: "Natürlich!"

"I thought it was just a gossip!" Lovino said. He did not complete this with what he had really thought, that Prussia had started the rumor himself.

"I beg your pardon, little Italian boy! It's been centuries since I play the flute! And, let's not deny it, I do everything perfectly!"

"Except swimming…" Lovino commented.

"Well, there's always an exception to the rule..." he admitted.

"Huh…"

Lovino thought for a while. He liked so much that Prussia was right back on course after that mini tantrum. He had bounced back and found himself in no time, after what, Lovino considered, a pretty embarrassing experience.

"Do you want to learn?" he asked tentatively.

"Learn what?" the Prussian man was looking at his companion but had lost his concentration.

"Swimming, idiot! Swimming, of course! Not drowning when in the sea, at the very least!" Lovino shouted.

Prussia's eyes widened. He looked up at the sky and thought about the proposition, slowly rubbing his jaw. "I could do it…" He began checking his fingernails. "I mean I can learn everything, I am fast with new skills…" Lovino stared at him in a don't-give-me-that-bullshit look. Prussia continued: "But I cannot learn just from anyone, it would have to be a top of the top teacher… I could do with no less, you know…"

Lovino raised his eyes to the sky in a silent prayer for patience. "It's me! I'm gonna teach you!" Lovino shouted. "Am I good enough for Your Highness?" he asked mockingly.

Prussia spread on his chair and crossed his legs. "You'd do, I guess…" he said grinning. He cleared his throat: "I could not think of anyone better, actually…" Lovino held his breath at the compliment. "But why would you, Mr. Grumpy?" Prussia asked.

Lovino laughed, trying to be nonchalant and funny at the same time: "As a Welcome to Italy, you muggle tourist, and a Sorry for bullying you at the beach, self-proclaimed-awesome-at everything Prussia! And my humble thanks for accepting me as a tutor, the honour you are doing me greatly surpasses my expectations!" he finished, rather mockingly.

Prussia laughed as well: "Thank you for accepting my superior qualities dear Sir, but…" he hesitated. "You know me for so long, Lovino. I know I am not your best friend or anything, but shouldn't you call me Gilbert by now? I mean, you almost drowned me today, don't I deserve at least that?" he asked batting his fair eyelashes.

Lovino could feel his whole face going on fire. The bastard! He had a nerve! "Ehm, sure, why not?" he said slowly, "I could try that. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable…"

"Not at all!" Prussia smiled. "And you should do the same with Ludwig, both him and Feli would appreciate it!" he added.

Lovino was frozen at the spot for a couple of seconds. He rose from his seat slowly, in a way that made Gilbert lose his mirth and subconsciously move just a little bit backwards.

Lovino turned his back, silently relishing Prussia's reaction. "I'm going for a shower. First swimming class tomorrow morning at eight."

Lovino woke up at seven sharp. He could not shake his winter program away in one day. He stayed in bed to consider last night. When they all gathered to the house after the beach they ate like hungry wolves. And then decided to walk if off by going to the town, walking the small sea-side road up and down, admiring the moon. They had drinks in a cute bar Lovino knew, and had a nice time in general.

Lovino had caught Pruss.. no, Gilbert! he corrected himself, looking at him quite a lot. It was obvious he was scared for the upcoming swimming lessons, and wondered if Lovino was good enough, and if he would keep him safe and sound in the water. The slimy bastard! First chatting and asking Lovino to use his human name, pretending to be friendly and everything, and then doubting his teaching potential!

Lovino huffed. He could not make out Gilbert's behavior exactly. Was there a hidden motive? And what could it be? To prove Lovino incompetent at teaching? That didn't seem likely… Even Prussia would not think of such a lame thing. Wait! Was he, himself, lame then for thinking that? Was he afraid he'd fail? Who was he kidding? Of course he was afraid. Not that he was doubting his own skills, certainly not… But Gilbert was a bit thickheaded for sure… Hundreds of years old and he still didn't know how to swim, tch…

He stood up after a while, used the bathroom, and then went to wake up Gilbert. The loser was wearing an AC/DC t-shirt ruined with blue ink. He remembered the day that had happened, in a world conference. Antonio had a pen leaking on his shirt pocket, and hugged Gilbert, ruining his clothes too. Everyone thought it a lucky event that Gilbert had not an expensive shirt or jacket to cry over, even if they thought the t-shirt was a ridiculous choice for the occasion, but Gilbert looked sad, as, as he said, this was his favourite garment. Last night, he had proclaimed the same thing, and added that the shirt held sentimental value. What a weirdo!

"Hey, Snow white! Wake up!" As the sleeping man did not stir, he began shaking his shoulder: "Wakey wakey! Bath time!" he tried again.

It took him several minutes, but he managed to get the Prussian out of bed, and into the toilet. A grumpy Gilbert came out of the bathroom, already in his swimwear, begging for coffee.

"No! Nothing for breakfast! We're going to swim now, okay?

"I'll just fall asleep and drown I tell you! I need my coffee!" Gilbert complained.

"Well, I need it too, your mousey whine is giving me a headache!"

"Then why don't we have some, you torturer!" Gilbert shouted.

"Because we can't! Just get on your feet and put some sun block on. I don't want you to look like a lobster at the end of the class!"

"You're teaching me swimming, this is hardly a class!

"It is a master class if I am teaching it, no matter the subject!" shouted Lovino. And then, "Oh, my God, we haven't started yet, and your deleterious effects are already here! I sound like you!"

"Anything that makes you behave like me is an improvement. Embrace it!" Gilbert offered happily.

Lovino threw the sunscreen bottle at him. Gilbert was awake enough now to catch it and use it. Since Feliciano and Germany had not come downstairs yet, they had to put sunscreen on each other's backs. -Well, that's awkward!- Lovino thought, spreading the cream on what he now noticed was a very well toned back. Gilbert shivered.

"What is it now? Don't tell me you're enjoying this, or I'll risk my future reputation as a teacher and drown you myself." Lovino said.

"You're tickling me!" Gilbert answered.

It was already nine o clock when they set off for the beach, and only a few families with small children had descended to have a morning bath, when the sun was not too strong. The water was as calm as ever, and cool, and crystal clear, and you could see every single pebble of the seabed. Lovino thought the circumstances were perfect for a swimming lesson. He quickly stepped in the sea, and stood where the water was waist high.

Gilbert was still a bit hesitant, but entered the water behind him, letting it reach his knees.

"Come closer, coward! You can't drown here!" Lovino asked him, splashing with his hands his own torso, face and back to get used to the water temperature. Gilbert speechlessly obliged, and stood right next to Lovino.

"Great! That's a big step for you…" the Italian mocked.

"-Beginning is half way to completion- the Greeks say!" Gilbert noted. "So, I'm half way there!"

"We'll see about that!" Lovino said. "What you have to do now, is to realize that you will not drown, unless something goes really, really bad. So, you're just going to lie down at the surface of the water, and I'll be holding you so you feel secure. Slowly and on your back, please!"

Gilbert was obviously feeling very insecure about this. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Will you hold me? All the time?"

"I said yes already!"

Lovino grabbed Gilbert's arms and brought him to stand sideways, right in front of him. He then kept a hand under Gilbert's waist, while with the other one he tried to push one of the other man's shoulders to make him lie down. He tried three or four times, while Gilbert's hands had grabbed Lovino's free hand like a life-saver and would not let go.

"Relax, relax! Do as I say!" Lovino commanded. Gilbert was now half lying on the surface of the water, holding Lovino's arm tight, in a distressed state he was trying to hide.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lovino asked.

"What?" Gilbert whined.

"Your feet are still on the seabed! Let them come to the surface!"

Gilbert looked at Lovino's face as if he was seeing him for the first time. "No they aren't!"

"Yes, they are!"

Gilbert, slowly, brought his right leg up, and could now see his toes out of the water, as he was supposed to. He then took a deep breath, released one of his hands from the deathgrip on Lovino's arms, brought it to his face to pinch his nostrils, and brought his left leg to join the right one on the surface.

He was a ridiculous sight, as he was half-lying, half hanging from Lovino, rocking on the water like a tiny boat in the middle of a storm. Lovino thought it was such a shame he could not make a photo of that spectacle. He could not help himself: "I thought your dealings with Russia's frozen lakes should have made you a bit more accustomed to water" he teased, reminding Gilbert of when he was a young kingdom, and a battle in Russia that ended up in a freezing disaster for him.

Gilbert had an extra powerful shiver at that. Lovino refrained from laughing, and tried to help him.

"Relax. Relax! _Relax I say_!"

Gilbert slowly opened his eyes and panting, he asked:

"Give me directions…!"

Lovino was impressed once again by this guy's self control. He was trembling like a fish out of the sea (on the reverse situation), and asked for direct orders to follow.

Lovino took a deep breath and started slowly. "Relax as much as you can. Straighten your back. I need you to be lying properly. Take a moment to feel my hand on your waist, I'm not letting go."

It took Gilbert some moments, but slowly, he got into a better position, lying a bit more naturally on the surface of the water, and breathing a little more easily, his hands still holding his teacher.

"Now, let your head in the surface of the water. More than that is okay, you have total control over that." he corrected Gilbert. "When you lie horizontally in calm water, your head can go deep enough to almost cover your eyes, but your nose will still be free to breathe."

"Relax your legs, let them float." Gilbert obliged.

"Relax your back now, slowly, and don't forget about my hand. I got you."

Gilbert opened his eyes to look at Lovino and gravely comment: "You'd better!"

Lovino smiled inwardly, and continued: "Now, slowly, let go of my arm."

Gilbert stiffened: "What? No way!"

"My arm is starting to ache, and becoming a leech on other people does not constitute swimming!" Lovino scolded him.

Gilbert apologized, and slowly let Lovino's arm go. He quickly brought his hands on his belly and grabbed them together. His weight fell more on Lovino's hand on his waist.

"Great!" Lovino took a deep breath. "Now, you will not go down, because I hold you, and all you have to do is relax, and find out how nice the water feels around you!"

Gilbert tried to do so. Every little disturbance in the water made him stiffen again, and it took him a while to get used to them. Once he felt somewhat relaxed, Lovino shook Gilbert's shoulder and asked him to relax his neck. After a while Gilbert achieved that too, and now he was lying in Lovino's arms completely calm, a big, happy smile on his face.

"You were right, Lovino! This is awesome…" he whispered with his eyes closed. "It feels like I'm flying…"

"Yes, doesn't it?" Lovino let Gilbert enjoy this moment for a bit longer. In the meantime, he had the chance to actually look at him. He had a beautiful man in front of him, something he had never noticed before. He already knew Gilbert had a charming face, but he had no idea of this lean, firm body and beautiful, milky skin. He could not take his eyes from the wonderful silver shades the sun gave to the wet hair framing Gilbert's face in the water. He felt his face going all red at the thought, especially because this was Prussia, this was Germany's brother, and one of Antonio's best friends, this was a guy he knew, and it made no sense to think such things of him all of a sudden. It was about time to continue with the course. He said in a low voice: "I'm gonna let go now, really slowly."

Gilbert opened his eyes, and his breathing rate went up again. But he was determined: "Okay, Lovino" he agreed.

"You will naturally stay in the surface. The air in your lungs and your body fat will easily keep you afloat."

"I have no body fat!" Gilbert said annoyed. "God, you'll kill me, because you haven't taken a proper look at me!"

"I said don't worry, and don't speak!" Lovino prevailed.

He very slowly let his hand withdraw from Gilbert's waist. His student's body followed the hand for a while towards the seabed, but after a dozen centimeters Lovino's fingertips were only hovering under Gilbert's skin, giving Lovino a weird sensation, like the sun became ten times stronger at that moment. He withdrew his hand some more, and Gilbert was now floating all alone.

"See? You did it!" Lovino said. "It was not that difficult, was it?"

Gilbert was laughing as he was floating in front of Lovino. He let out a loud howl to hail his success. "I'm the king of this beach!" he shouted.

A loud sudden sound made Lovino turn abruptly towards the shore, and almost drowned Gilbert who nevertheless managed to find the seabed and his footing fast. They both looked at a loss the bunch of children in their bathing suits, who were sitting gathered at the seaside close to them, laughing like maniacs, clapping, and pointing at Gilbert.

They were shouting "Bravo, bravo!" amongst their other loud remarks, commenting on Gilbert's swimming abilities, and Lovino's teaching powers. The two adults, completely embarrassed, left the water.

They sat under their pine, and took a minute to breathe normally again. A very young, small girl with long maroon ponytails and large almond-shaped eyes approached them, slipping all the time on the pebbles. She reached Gilbert, kissed him on the cheek, took off the orange arm floats from her arms, and offered them to him. Gilbert went all red again, and a new round of wild laughter came from the small underage gang on the shore.

When she left, Gilbert turned to Lovino. "Thank you, Lovi! It's the first time I managed to stay afloat like that!"

"And it will be the last if you call me Lovi again." said Lovino matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I'm sure you love it deep down… You never correct Feli when he uses it." Gilbert laughed.

"No, I don't love it!"

Gilbert kept smiling and did not press the matter any longer. "Tell me," he asked as he was lying down, putting his sunglasses on, and one leg on top of the other, "what did those kids tell us?"

Lovino lied down as well a bit further away. He put his sunglasses on too. "They said they had never seen anyone so white before, and that you must be a U.F.O. coming from a frozen planet."

"Hmmm, never heard that one before…" Gilbert commented.

"And that I am losing my time teaching something to someone so clearly unable to learn."

"That was hurtful!" Gilbert covered his chest where his heart should be with his hand in a mocking way. "I'm sure they'd never say this, these are your words!"

"And that you'd be safer if you were swimming in something thicker than water. Like Nutella, and other stuff I will refrain from mentioning." Lovino had now a cheeky smile on his face.

"Cheers for the sea of Nutella, I say!" Gilbert said. He passed Lovino his bottle of water, and once it had reached its recipient, he clinked against it with his own. "I only wish I had a picture of the lesson to put on my blog…"

Lovino thought Gilbert really shouldn't want one, but added nevertheless: "Well, I'm pretty sure the little monsters over there have some on their mobiles to give you."

By that time Feli and Germany were also on the beach, and Lovino felt there was too big an audience to continue.

The day gave them no opportunity to continue with swimming lessons. Once they left the beach, they had a snack, and left to visit an ancient roman theatre in the area. It was wonderful. They ascended the mountain using narrow, winding roads through picturesque villages, climbed to where the car could not reach, and listened to the history of the theatre and the history of its discovery, by the only guard found there. They sat on the stone seats, and Feliciano, from the scene of the theatre in the centre, gave them a small show, reciting in the most grandiose way he could a long and funny children's poem.

They then left the theatre, which barely had any visitors other than them, and continued their walk through the dry fields, reaching a high cliff which gave a breathtaking view to the villages underneath, and the endless sea. Feliciano put himself in Germany's arms, and they enjoyed together the beauty of the spot. Lovino accepted Gilbert's sitting next to him, and they silently just looked at the wonderful scenery.

It was late afternoon when they spotted the best tavern Lovino knew in the area, and had an early dinner. Germany was ecstatic with the excursion, he loved every little ruin they would come upon. Gilbert enjoyed the nature, the climbing and the view. Feli and especially Lovino were just proud of their country. After the beautiful meal, they drove back, had a drink in the nearby town, watched some tv and each withdrew to their rooms.

Lovino was thinking of the day spread on his bed. The whole day was great, he found out he could put up with the Germanic nations when he himself was having a great time, even if he had struggled hard to keep any vitriolic comments on them to himself. Minor exception to his good time that day, were the small bites of jealousy he would feel when watching his brother hugging his building of a boyfriend. This was another recent occurrence, and Lovino hated being jealous of Feli, because that had been his life so far and he was sick of it. Jealous not of Germany, of course, he laughed through his nose. But of Feli's happiness. And he wanted his life to be like that too.

He also thought of the morning lesson in the beach. He had had a great time with Gilbert, and it had left him a very welcomed feeling of accomplishment, even if Gilbert was far from swimming, still, by any standards. The lesson had brought him and Gilbert closer together, as today had felt like the group of four was separated in a couple of lovers (Lovino almost gagged at the word his mind fed him), and a couple of friends, rather than a couple of lovers and two individuals.

Gilbert was not just a clown for the crowd it seemed. Childish, surely, but also funny on a one-on-one encounter. He was interesting, Lovino decided. He again wore the ink-stained AC/DC t-shirt tonight. Lovino could suddenly remember crystal-clear how that t-shirt had been ruined, some months ago.

Lovino himself was standing almost in the middle of the room where the conference would take place. Feliciano had totally blown it again, as half an hour ago he had been unable to answer clear questions after the presentation they had so carefully been putting together for ages. Lovino was giving him hell. Germany and Gilbert were standing somewhere close, chatting lightly between them, Germany throwing worried glances to Feliciano, who was in danger of being choked to death by his brother at any second.

At that very moment, a delayed Antonio entered the scene, very cool, dressed smartly, impeccable hair, design tie and cufflinks, and a big, fresh ink stain on his shirt's pocket, he had no idea he was sporting. He cried from afar: "Lovinito!" making everyone turn to look at him, and came towards "Lovinito" at a fast pace. Lovino was pissed even more that he had to put up with another idiot, especially since this one would unavoidably ruin his shirt too. In fact, he was fuming so hard, he could hardly straighten his thoughts out anymore, and just watched catastrophe approach him with fast steps without doing anything. He took a look at Feliciano, who, defeated, resembled a wet cat by now, and the next thing he saw was Gilbert right next to him, hugging tight Antonio who had spread his hands towards Lovino, and by what seemed at the moment, taking one for the team, as Antonio would not stop unless he had ruined someone's outfit.

Lovino could now speculate that Gilbert was not just saving anyone who would be molested and soiled by Antonio's hug, but him in particular. He sat up on his bed fast. Was that even possible?


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry for the huge delay in updating! This is more like a summer gift now, rather than a Secret Santa :(_

 _One more chapter to come._

Gilbert was lying on the couch, trying to sleep. It wasn't easy. He could hear Lovino toss and turn on his bed too. Who knows what was bothering him. Maybe he was trying to find new ways of making him the laughing stock of everyone at the beach tomorrow, and could not sleep from excitement and anticipation. But who was he kidding? Deciding to vacation at the seaside while not being able to swim, he had it coming.

But, at least, he was a touch closer to his goal. Well, learning how to swim and almost drowning in a horrifyingly ridiculous way, or spending vacation time learning anything, really, was not his plan. But spending time with Lovino was.

His interest in Lovino had not stemmed directly by the guy's personality at first, even though Gilbert could now see that he was one of the most interesting characters the Prussian had met in his life. Nor was it his looks that that had captured Gilbert's attention so much. Sure, Lovino was a very good looking man. His eyes had a rare, beautiful golden shade, and his face had all the right angles. But there were a lot of beautiful people in the world, and the percentage of really handsome between nations was particularly high. No, it was Gilbert's own life circumstances that, after a weird sequence of events, led him look Lovino's direction.

It had all started when the Berlin Wall fell. Gilbert had thought everything was over, and it was peculiar for him that he actually had a chance to see Ludwig again. It must have been a pretty weird sight, Ludwig crying, hugging Gilbert tight, Feliciano at his side trying to console him, and Gilbert just feeling astonished to even be there, too shocked to show any emotion.

The period after that had also been traumatic. Gilbert, and everyone around him, acted like he could be gone within the moment. Nothing would have made Gilbert really look around him then and seek for a long-term relationship. He would go out, and drink, and dance, and do anything he thought he might miss as a goner.

When years kept passing though, and it became clear that Gilbert was not dying, or decaying, or getting old as a human would, or when he didn't show any signs of losing anything his nationhood included (other than the nation itself), he began to act differently. He began getting out of that haze and actually seeing around him. Up until then, he had not given any deeper thoughts on the relationship between Ludwig and Feliciano, even if it was impressive at its duration and stability through extremely troubling times. But now he could see. And feel jealous. And think that since he had no nation, and thus no serious job, he should at least want to make his life a happy one.

His brother had found someone to make him happy and content. This someone was also talented, and handsome, and sweet, and who could ever find another so good and heartwarming? When initial jealousy run out though, Gilbert could discern that Feliciano might have been perfect for his little brother, proper and law-abiding Ludwig, but he was probably too mild and cutesy for himself. And Gilbert, in his awesomeness, would probably have been a touch too exciting for little Feli, and could not offer the little Italian either the stability or the discrete and constant guidance Ludwig did.

Gilbert needed someone different. Someone ready to break the rules not only because he did not care for them, but because he had fun doing so. Someone who liked to have a fight when he disagreed with other people over things. Someone caring, but not with everybody, just with the people he was truly interested in.

So he made this perfect image of a person in his mind. And one day, at a European Nations meeting, he noticed that Lovino had fought hard for retaining funding for his agriculture, and had laughed at Ludwig's face when he had asked for quiet, and then went as far as to lie to England that France had been laughing behind his back over his cooking, and Gilbert then witnessed Lovino lay back on his chair and enjoy the mess that ensued. He also saw infamously prickly Lovino look at Feliciano with mild jealousy, but also pride and adoration, when Feli was showing his new paintings to Portugal on his tablet, and then kiss Belgium's cheek goodbye with such a cheeky, flirting smirk on his face. And in that meeting, he decided Lovino was far more interesting than he had thought so far, and he could finally put a face on his perfect mate description.

He had tried repeatedly to be in Lovino's company, but his chances were not many. He bumped into him on several occasions in Antonio's house, but Lovino would always leave them alone, as if they had something extremely important to talk about. Well, Gilbert had something extremely important to talk about, but not with Lovino's occasionally axe-wielding best friend. The same went with Feliciano. Whenever he found the two of them together, Lovino would demand that Gilbert depart, so that he could spend some time alone with his brother. And then there were all those official meetings and dinners, and he could never do anything there but admire from afar, because Spain was there, and Feliciano (who would out him without a second thought if he found out), and those other, gossip-hungry nations. Gilbert couldn't care less, but his Italian did not enjoy being in the spotlight like that.

The only person who knew about Gilbert's troubles was Ludwig. Sweet little brother! Ludwig had even kept the secret from Feliciano, mostly of course because he knew that should the truth come out, Lovino would have a bitch fit so grand, it would affect Ludwig's seeing Feli for some time. Ludwig, who would give Gilbert such a look of combined disapproval and pity when he would catch him look at Lovino. Ludwig, whose grand move was to secure this vacation for his brother, and kept fingers crossed it would not all go to hell.

Damn, it was weird pursuing someone who would not trust his shadow and knowing that any wrong move would make him withdraw for ages, and moreover, having to rely on your baby brother for setting up meetings. It was also infuriating, as Lovino's secret qualities were revealing themselves more and more to Gilbert's now keen and attentive eye, making Gilbert more and more interested. The Prussian was feeling useless, especially since his "tactics" specialty seemed to have gone rusty.

All Gilbert could do at the moment was agreeing to swimming lessons. Almost risking his life for a romantic cause! He could not recognize himself. But if he had a chance, it was this one. He should use all of his best powers, and be as strategic as possible about this. Take advantage of all their time together and let Lovino recognize the awesomeness in front of him, and see what Gilbert wanted, without scaring him away… Now that was a battle if there ever was one.

Lovino woke him up eight sharp, throwing one of the couch cushions at his head.

"Come on, asshole, we'd better get going. Or else your fan club will be at the beach too, and you don't want them judging your performance!"

Gilbert wanted to avoid his yesterday's underage critics as much as anything, but nevertheless, used the couch cushion to cover his eyes. "Don't I get a good morning, today?" he asked groggily.

"We'll see if the day is good." Lovino answered. "If you piss me off too much, I'll make sure your day becomes hell!"

Gilbert peeked at Lovino from under the cushion. "You didn't sleep well tonight, did you?" he asked.

Lovino huffed. "Just get your stuff and let's go."

Gilbert decided to ignore what must have been the results of Lovino waking up too early. He got to the bathroom, and came out ready to go. Almost. "Sunscreen on my back?" he asked Lovino.

Lovino looked at him annoyed. "I spread sunscreen on my back alone. Your hands are long enough."

Gilbert stayed there looking at Lovino for a couple of seconds. "Please?"

Lovino seemed defeated. "Whatever, bastard" he said, and applied sunscreen on Gilbert's back, in what must have been a world record time. "Let's go now!" he said, grabbing his stuff and leading the way.

Lovino was not speaking at all on the way to the beach, and Gilbert had a bad feeling in his gut. What was wrong? Lovino seemed a little more negative than usual. Or at least in comparison to the previous days, when he seemed to be having fun. It made him feel a bit chilly, even though the sun that morning was promising them another warm day on the beautiful beach.

They left their things under the usual pine trees and approached the sea. Lovino was not running towards the water like a child towards an ice cream truck for once. Gilbert looked at him puzzled. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now... Get in the water and float around!"

"Float on my back?"

"No! You did that yesterday! You can't have forgotten how to do that already!"

"But you're not coming in? You have to be next to me…" Gilbert said without a trace of joking in his mind. "You know, just in case…"

"No." Lovino insisted. "You won't need me. You have to do it alone now, it's time. You have to get used to it."

Gilbert took a look at Lovino, who was in turn looking a bit anxious. Should he be anxious too? Was Lovino angry at the world enough today to let Gilbert drown?

Gilbert got waist-high in the water, and bent his knees first to immerse his torso in the water leaving his head outside. He was already feeling the stress.

"Come on, go a bit further towards the deep side" Lovino told him from the shore.

"I can't!" Gilbert whined as if Lovino had stolen his candy. "I don't feel safe with you out there! I signed up with the master, you said, shouldn't you at least be in the sea with me?"

Lovino entered the water, defeated: "You can stop paying me if you want, brat!" he grumped. He stayed at a 5-6 meters distance from Gilbert, and gave his directions again: "Okay, let's do this! From where you are to where I am, you can easily reach the seabed. You won't drown. Just try to remain upright, but float towards me. Float, don't walk."

"What? How?" Gilbert's question sounded a bit dumb even in his ears.

"What do you mean how, Einstein? Any way you can!" Lovino scratched his head, seemingly frustrated. "Only condition is not touching your feet on the bottom of the sea."

"Okay, okay, I got this!" Gilbert shouted, trying to give courage to himself. "Beware, here I come!" he sang, and carefully let his upper body into the water once more.

His face looking at the sky and jaw clumped closed so that to keep his mouth and nose water free, the rest of his body in a bicycle riding position into the water, he begun moving his arms and legs in the most uncoordinated way imaginable. He was sure Lovino could see in the crystal-like water his feet reaching the seabed every time he felt insecure. After fighting with the water for several minutes, he faced ahead to see how much closer to Lovino he was. He had hardly moved from his original position. Lovino did not seem to expect him there any time soon, one hand close to his face so that he could inspect his fingernails.

Lovino looked up, and huffed: "Should I go buy us some lunch for when you're here?" he asked. "An isotonic drink to recharge your batteries?"

Gilbert tried to stifle a whine, and shouted again: "Directions, sensei! Give me directions, I don't seem to be able to move from this spot!" he almost begged.

"Any type or row-like movement with your hands would do!" Lovino supplied. He tsked. "You never really were a naval nation, were you?" he teased Gilbert.

That remark really hit spot for Gilbert. One could tease him, but not his country! He concentrated on his moves, his effort showing on his furrowed eyebrows. After a while, he managed to produce an arm movement that was very slowly bringing him towards Lovino, and a weird leg movement that was keeping him afloat for longer. It took him a long time, but he finally reached his arm out, and grabbed Lovino's offered hand.

"Yes!" Gilbert shouted. "Ain't I a great student?" he asked Lovino, still panting. He batted his eyelashes to him, with a mischievous smile: "Aren't you proud of me?"

His teacher looked the other way, with what Gilbert could almost swear was a blush on his face. Lovino, though, was not as ecstatic about his progress. "It's not so different from what you did yesterday! No big news, no world records broken! It's not like you're even half way to real swimming, potato boy!"

"Mmmm, just be happy for me a little bit, can you?" Gilbert whined. "Come float with me for a while!" he dared.

"No time for play! You have to do this perfectly!" Lovino objected.

"What do you mean? Wasn't that awesome already?" Gilbert pretended to complain.

Lovino did not stay to listen to Gilbert's upcoming speech of self-admiration. He swam a bit further towards the deep, and disappeared under the water. He did not resurface for a couple of minutes, making Gilbert really anxious. Was Lovino so displeased with him that he would quit their teaching session without a word? Was Gilbert really such a bad student? Or was it his attitude? Did he act too confident? No, there's no such a thing…And, wait, Lovino is a very good swimmer, admittedly, but where is he? It must be at least three minutes since he's gone underwater…

Right on this thought, Lovino resurfaced a few meters away from Gilbert, carrying something black in his hands. He lifted them and showed Gilbert the urchins he was carrying. "You let your feet touch the seabed all the time, Gilbert!" he said. "You thought I didn't see that? Or that I'd let it pass? Ha! This time, I'll make sure I'm not wasting my time!" he said in a smug tone, and let the urchins he was holding fall in the sea between the spots where he and Gilbert were standing.

Gilbert was at a loss. Lovino left again, and returned a couple of minutes later with another handful of urchins, which he also spread on the path leading from him to Gilbert.

"Now float to me!" Lovino ordered again, his arms crossed on his chest in the water.

Gilbert finally closed his mouth, only to instantly re-open it to shout: "Are you nuts? When did you go all crazy sports coach on me?" he asked. Lovino pouted, but Gilbert continued. "I signed up for swimming lessons, not the crash course on becoming a fakir! Would you like to see me suffer?!"

"What?!" Lovino asked incredulously. "No, I just want you not to touch your fucking feet down! I'd do that for everyone!"

Hidden - well, not so hidden - mean streak, Gilbert thought.

"And why would I want to see you suffer?" Lovino asked, with a hint of suspicion now in his voice. "What did you do, to make me want such a thing?"

Gilbert felt relief his swimming was not hideous enough to have made Lovino want to injure him with malevolent sea creatures. "Nothing, nothing…" he said in a lower tone now.

He took a look at the urchins now lying on the seabed between him and his dream guy. He decided that acknowledging them would not help him out, so, without saying another word, and without losing eye contact with Lovino, he begun floating towards him.

He did what was always the best thing to do in a battle, a situation Gilbert was excellent at, and felt most comfortable in. When the bayonets were clashing around him in the past, passion had been useful to him, but sticking to being concentrated was the best strategy. So he emptied his mind, and thought only of the moves his arms and legs were making, trying only to coordinate them, and not let his feet touch the seabed.

Soon, much sooner than he had anticipated, he had reached Lovino, and held his arms again, refusing to put his feet down and risk his walking abilities.

Gilbert was pleased to see a cheeky smile on Lovino's face: "Well done, mermaid of the Northern Sea!" Lovino said, amused. "That was faster than before too!"

"That's the first nice thing you said to me today!" Gilbert exclaimed, in an effort to see what was wrong with Lovino. "Even if you camouflaged it into a joke! Is your foul mood finally broken for this morning?"

Lovino, wide-eyed and looking busted, denied everything: "Foul mood? No, no, I was just as always!" he said, trying to distance himself.

Gilbert though, held Lovino's arms strongly: "No, no, you were an urchin yourself today, and I thought you didn't want to have classes anymore with the best student possible ever, but it seems that my awesome swimming has finally broken the spell!" said Gilbert, in his usual manner that could not betray whether he was kidding or whether he really meant what he was saying.

Lovino, though, kept trying to get away only managing to drag his student with him. "Gilbert, you're just imagining things! I have been my perfectly normal self since morning" he said, with the air of a man who was knowingly talking bullshit.

Gilbert, seeing that Lovino was in no mood of admitting anything, decided to let it drop. "Whatever, Lovi! I hope you'll not continue being your perfectly normal self for the rest of the day!"

By now Lovino had managed to detach his arms from Gilbert's grasp, took a look around, and smugly said, as he moved further away: "Look at that! It was about time we went deeper!"

Gilbert froze. He looked around and realized Lovino had sneakily brought him on the deeper side of the sea, where his legs could not reach the bottom. He yelped in complaint, and his moves doubled in speed. While he could see Lovino had begun making wide cycles around him, just as a shark would do with its pray, he realized that his own moves were good enough to keep him afloat, and that he could easily turn around, and try to follow Lovino with his eyes.

And it felt great. He could finally stay afloat in the deep, without being afraid of drowning. He could slowly float to where he wanted to go, and he could lie on his back and see the birds and the clouds, and he would be finally able to get a snorkel and take a good look at those fish. He was on cloud nine. Gilbert laughed wholeheartedly and begun trying to reach Lovino once more:

"So, it's a good thing I am an awesome student!" he shouted. "Because you're an irresponsible teacher, you just brought me here in the deep and left me all alone!" he said.

"Stop being a child, Prussia!" Lovino answered. "You look safe enough to me, especially in comparison to the other day, when you almost drown on the shore!"

Lovino stayed on spot so Gilbert could reach him."Well done, Gilbert!" he praised him once more and then, mocked him again: "Finally, you'll be able to say you learned something useful!"

"I know a lot of useful things!" Gilbert retorted. "This is a fun thing!" he laughed again.

"And, you're finally ready for the swimming classes!" Lovino said.

Gilbert scrunched his eyebrows. "What? What were those classes we had so far?" he asked. "I am swimming right now, am I not?"

"You are floating now!" Lovino corrected him. "Moving in the water like a newborn baby hippo does not constitute swimming!" Lovino let him know.

"Awww! A baby hippo!" Gilbert cooed. "You really like me if you say such sweet things for me, don't you?" he said, smiling, and tried to reach a fleeting, laughing Lovino. "Don't go away, I don't bite!" he added.

"Of course you can't!" Lovino retorted. "You'd have to catch me first! Race you to the rocks!" he challenged.

Gilbert turned to face where the rocks were. His logic told him they could not be more than 200 meters away. Yet swimming this distance made him feel like he had to reach a far away island.

Lovino guessed his hesitance: "Come on, don't think about it! I'll stick close, and you have to practice a bit." He said, and begun swimming slowly towards the small bay.

"Alright, alright!" Gilbert conceded, and started trying to stay close to his teacher.

They did not speak while swimming towards the block of rocks. Gilbert was half fascinated, half afraid of the alternating scenery in the seabed he swam over, on which he could discern every little detail. He swam over pebbles and blond sand, urchins and swarms of tiny fish swimming in circles, and large rocks, and mysterious looking bunches of sea weed that ticked his feet with their slimy processes. He kept moving in an awkward fashion, slowly developing a weird combination of breaststroke movements for his arms, and freestyle for his legs. Lovino was alternating between slow swimming with his head out of the water, diving and exploring the seabed, and looking at Gilbert, semi-secretly snickering at his swimming efforts.

Gilbert kept on his strenuous attempt to reach the rocks, letting his concentration slip only when Lovino was roaming the water around and below him, sliding in the water like a fish. Gil could only admire the way Lovino was familiar with the water, and thought that if Lovino had gills, he would be as well adjusted to the sea depths as he was to dry land.

At one point, Gilbert felt a hand nudging his side. Looking down, he saw Lovino, sunk underwater, a peculiar, smug smile on his face apparent through the water, pointing towards Gilbert's other side. Gilbert looked where the finger was indicating, and saw one thick, longer than his forearm gray fish, less than a meter away from him. He shrieked, and immediately got motivated to cover the final distance between him and the rocks faster than he thought he could. He felt sure that somewhere behind him, Lovino has having an underwater laughing fit.

Gilbert reached the rocks panting, Lovino reaching him just a second later.

"See? It wasn't so difficult!" Lovino said.

"Nothing is too difficult for me!" Gilbert declared, still trying to catch his breath. And a little less reassured: "Is that fish back there safe?" he asked, and cleared his throat: "For the swimmers, I mean..."

"You're such a scaredy-cat!" Lovino retorted. "It's very safe to be here, no sharks or other deadly fish around." He informed."You only have to worry about drowning, urchins, and jelly fish" he continued, counting with his fingers the dangers lurking in the local waters. "Drowning is what we fight off with swimming lessons, urchins, you know by now, and jelly fish, well... not much we can do!"

Gilbert's eyes widened and begun looking around frantically: "There are jelly fish here?"

Lovino tried to swallow a laugh: "Not this time of year…" And then, looking at Gilbert he said seriously: "But it's better to familiarize with the wild life in your environment. Look at the barnacles, and the limpets, and the tiny shrimps on the rocks!"

Curious red eyes turned towards where Lovino's finger was pointing. Gilbert noticed all the small limpets hanging on, slightly detached from the rock so that the water that was lapping the rock in weak waves could get to their inner side. He touched the shell of one of them, and it responded immediately, attaching itself to the rock so firmly, that the Prussian could not detach it, hard as he tried.

Gilbert noticed that Lovino had come really close to look at what he was doing, and thought the biology lesson was worth the while. "Where are the shrimps?" he asked. I don't see any!

Lovino pointed to a tiny creature that was so far completely camouflaged on the surface of the rock. Gilbert could now see the almost transparent, smaller than a button animal.

"Want to see something cool?" Lovino asked. He spread his hand on the gruff surface, and waited. Soon one of the tiny shrimps was climbing on it and exploring.

Gilbert was ecstatic: "I wanna do it too!" he declared. He also put his hand right next to Lovino's scaring the small animal away.

Lovino, who suddenly seemed serious and very concentrated, kept his hand where it was on the stone and said: "Wait, Gilbert. Stay still and it will come again."

Indeed, the shrimp made another appearance, and decided to explore Gilbert's fingers and nails. He could feel its minuscule legs putting considerable pressure on his skin. "Does it bite?" he asked.

"Of course! If you're not careful, it might cut your hand off!" Lovino laughed shamelessly.

The creature had now jumped from Gilbert's hand to Lovino's.

Gilbert smiled. "I have another difficult question for you." he continued. "Is this little guy's name really "tiny shrimp?""

Lovino's baritone, deep laughter was music to Gilbert's ears. "I don't know, maybe!" Lovino replied, let his hand fall from the rock, and instead brought his feet against it to push himself away. In a few seconds he went underwater, and resurfaced a few meters away. "Just so you know, I charge extra for local fauna lessons!" he shouted.

Gilbert followed him laughing too. He really wanted to walk back, but he only had that many chances to spend time with Lovino. He thought Lovino realized his tiredness though, when he just lazily floated close to him, and chatted with Gilbert accompanying him on his slow return all the way back.

By the time they reached their spot, Feliciano and Ludwig had come to the shore. Lovino and Gilbert came out of the water and sat by their usual pine trees. Gilbert felt exhausted and hungry.

"Lovino," he asked, "is there anything to eat around here?"

"There's breakfast at home!" Lovino replied. "You can go and have all you want!"

"No, no!" Gilbert said. "I don't want to leave the beach yet, or eat too much, maybe I want to go back in the water later!" he explained.

"There's the canteen from which you bought water yesterday. If you go, get me some coffee!" Lovino deadpanned.

Gilbert looked at him amused: "I am tired, you go to bring me something and get your coffee!"

Lovino looked at him in an are-you-fucking-kidding-me way.

"What?" Gilbert smiled. "You are my host here! You should be spoiling me if you want me to return!"

Lovino groaned and complained: "You are spoiled enough, Gilbert Beilschmidt! And who told you I'd like you to come here again?"

Gilbert frowned: "If you don't like having fun, don't invite me again!" he said.

"I didn't invite you this time either!" Lovino informed him, searching Feliciano's little bag next to him. "Feli did." But before Gilbert had a chance to retort, he continued: "But do you like it here so far?"

Gilbert didn't feel like lying, even if he felt bummed. "I like it very much." He said. "It's awfully hot, of course, but the house is great, the food as well, the area seems amazing, and I am looking forward to exploring it some more, you're a great host –even if you didn't invite me- and a great teacher, and I can now survive in the sea, and I have the chance to enjoy all of that some more before going away."

Lovino was obviously pleased to hear all that, his breast slowly filling with more air and the ends of his lips gradually arching upwards.

"Okay, okay!" he said. "Stop the flattery! You already won this!" he said, throwing a juicy, cooled orange on Gilbert's lap.

"Where did this come from?"

"From Feli's magic bag!" Lovino answered, moving his fingers as if expecting a white pigeon to miraculously appear from the bag.

"I don't want to eat Feli's orange!" Gilbert protested. "He'll need it later!"

Lovino, still smiling, answered: "The orange is not for him. That's for him," he said, taking out of the bag some sandwich bread overflowing with various green and red ingredients, wrapped in a polybag.

"I don't want to have Luddy's food either!"

"That's not Germany's, _this_ is your brother's:" he said, taking an apple out of the bag.

"It's for me?" he asked, astonished. "He carried the orange for me?"

"No, that's for you!" Lovino said triumphantly, taking out of the bag a can of energy drink, attached on an ice pack with a rubber band, releasing it and throwing it to Gilbert's lap.

Gilbert could hardly believe it. "So, the orange is for you?" he asked Lovino astonished.

"Yes, yes, the orange is for me, but I'm not hungry, and you can have it, and the idiot always brings one, but I never eat it, but he brings it anyway, so now you can have it, no problem." he said with one breath.

Gilbert felt rich. He had an orange and a cool drink. And Lovino had given him his food. Of course, he hadn't wanted it, but he had given it to him and that was big. He peeled the orange, offering half of it to Lovino who silently refused. He also reveled at the fact that he had managed to break Lovino's earlier foul mood. That must count for something. Lovino liked him a bit! Or didn't hate him but for Lovino that was practically the same thing…

Gilbert satiated his thirst and hunger looking at the view ahead of him. Feliciano and Ludwig were in the water having a small argument on whether it would be okay for Feli to skinny dip. A couple of small, wooden boats were lazily floating in the distance, some kids climbing on them so they could dive into the water again. The beach itself was slowly filling with families and groups of teenagers, bringing with them their beach umbrellas, chairs and portable mini fridges. Here he felt so far away from anything in his everyday life, but also anything reminding him of his war-filled past, and he felt truly relaxed.

"I could so get used to this", he thought, sighing. He turned to look at Lovino and found him giving him a doubtful look over his sunglasses. Lovino too looked so fitting into this environment, with his tan, red swim trunks, and straw fedora hat.

"What?" Gilbert asked with a dismissive shrug.

There was a tone of suspision in Lovino's voice. "Why are you sighing?"

"That's not what you wanted to ask me!" Gilbert protested.

"It is now!"

Gilbert found no use in lying. "I would not have minded having more reasons to come back here." He said seriously. "It's so different from everywhere else."

Lovino was giving him a very serious look, and Gilbert tried to lighten the atmosphere: "Hey, maybe I'll buy a house near-by and come to annoy you every summer!" he said smiling. "I'll open a small shop and sell wurst and French fries in the village in the winter, and ice cream right here on the beach in the summer! And when I am bored, and know you're here, I will knock on your door and ask you to teach me various other skills, necessary for survival in the South of Italy", he told him and added: "Skills like hunting octopuses, farming tomatoes, and playing scopa."

Instead of the cussing Gilbert expected to receive for his barely concealed threats to further burden Lovino with his presence, let alone his willingness to introduce the taste of german sausages to the Italian people, Lovino just kept staring at Gilbert with his eyes narrowed, and after a while he muttered: "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!" Gilbert nodded.

Lovino hesitated for a while, but then said: "Do you remember that world conference, when Antonio ruined that t-shirt of yours?"

Gilbert thought for a while. "Which one?" he asked.

"That AC/DC one?"

"Yes," Gilbert remembered. "What about it?"

Lovino blushed. "Do you remember whether you had actually seen the ink st-"

"Hey guys!" a dripping Feliciano reached them, not caring he had interrupted his brother. Gilbert thought that saying Lovino was pissed would be an understatement. "Don't you guys think it would be okay if I took my swim suit off?" Feli asked innocently. "Do you think anyone would mind? Luddy says I shouldn't, but I believe-"

"I would mind!" Lovino shouted. "In fact, I would use your swim trunks to choke you!" he yelled. "Why don't you go play with the pebbles, like a good child, eh?"

Feli was taken aback by the sudden attack, and begun giving his arguments, trying to hold his tears: "That lady the first day we were here did it, nobody said a thing…" he complained pouting. And then, gaining some courage: "And you know it's nicer without the swimming suit, it always is…" he added looking sideways at Lovino.

Lovino's eyes widened at that. "No, I don't know! How should I? I know nothing of it!" he shouted in a too-defensive-to-be-innocent voice.

Feli quit being subtle: "Yes, you do" he deadpanned. And then, turning to Gilbert, he confided in a conspirational tone: "It's tons better!"

The older Italian brother looked like a furnace ready to explode by now, and Gilbert decided not to add to Lovino's distress by admitting openly he couldn't care less if Feli went stark naked into the Italian Parliament or to excite himself by imagining Lovino swimming without his swimming trunks in the calm sea during a pink sunset.

"Listen, Feli…" Gilbert said, "as your boyfriend's brother, I'd find it terribly awkward if I saw you naked. And I'm sure Ludwig wouldn't be very happy with me if I ever did." He continued, sighing: "It's not awesome, man… Why don't you wait until there's less people on the beach?"

Feliciano visibly deflated, while Lovino breathed deeply. A drenching, frowning Ludwig showed up next to them and asked: "What did the conclave decide? I hope you told him he can't walk around naked."

"We decided that I need to show you that secluded beach I know tomorrow afternoon", the younger Italian replied seemingly indifferently, turned around to leave and re-entered the water, his eyes cast down.

Ludwig sighed carding his hand through his hair and asked Lovino: "It's a nudist beach, isn't it?"

Lovino grinned and nodded signaling an affirmative answer. The German sighed once more and followed Feliciano to the water. Lovino's devilish smile would not subside though.

"Nudism is obligatory there, right?" Gilbert guessed. "Luddy will have to go nude too to be able to follow Feli in there?"

Seeing Lovino's second, more emphatic nod, their wild laughter resonated throughout the site.

"That's one hell of a joke I would like to be there to witness. NOT!" Lovino said ironically, wiping small tears from his eyes.

"We won't even have to ask Ludwig what happened when they come back! The story will be written all over his face!" Gilbert snickered. And I won't be letting it go for a long time!"

Lovino looked at Gilbert in fake graveness. "I count on you and your obnoxiousness for that! Don't fail me!"

"I won't!" he confirmed. And then he thought about it some more. "Shame on me, though… I conspire with you against my own brother behind his back!"

"You should be ready to play along with pissing Germany off a little bit, if you are interested on getting on my good side." Lovino replied, and then, realizing his words he added: "Unless you are not interested, I… I don't care, anyway…"

Gilbert felt he should not miss his chance: "Of course I do!"

Lovino's eyes widened. "Right, right…"

He said nothing more for a while, then decided to swim some more, and left Gilbert's company to head to the sea.

Gilbert sighed. "Hm, that went well…" he muttered. He walked up to the house to retrieve his comic book, and returned to the beach again to rest in the shade of the trees. Donald Duck could do nothing though to cheer Gilbert up.

After some time they all headed up to the house. Lovino and Feliciano drove to the town to get a fresh supply of food and they all had a big brunch. They spent their afternoon playing board games at the balcony, looking at the view of the sea, and sipping ice cold beverages. Lovino was pleased immensely by Gilbert when he won all three games of Risk against Ludwig who swore he would never play the game with his brother again. The Prussian, in return, found that the emotional rollercoaster of being in and out of Lovino's good graces was equally interesting and frustrating.

That evening found Gilbert with the rest of the gang in the small open air cinema in the nearby town. The screen was on the roof of a small house, the place filled with comfortable, sturdy director's chairs and potted plants. "Grand Hotel Budapest" looked like a very entertaining film, but the Italian dubbing made it impossible for him to follow. He looked around and spotted Feliciano and Ludwig half-hidden in a relatively empty spot, huddled together, speaking softly to each other. Lovino next to him was immersed in the movie, and only lost focus when he stole the fresh popcorn from Gilbert's hands. Gilbert loved the look of concentration of Lovino's face, and how, unbeknown to him, his features showed his emotions during the ups and downs in the movie characters' lives.

Tiredness from that day's lengthy swimming lesson, the sweet scent of evening primrose and the half-drunk beer in his hands allowed Gilbert to drift off. Next thing he knew, Lovino was shaking his shoulder to let him know the film was over. Gilbert realized he had slept all through the second part of the film on Lovino's shoulder, and the Italian had allowed it. He silently considered it a big victory and he slept through that night in the couch smiling.

* * *

Waking up next morning felt different. Gilbert realized that Lovino had not come to wake him up early, and the clock on the wall showed a time quite later than their usual 8.00 o' clock. He found Lovino already up and in the balcony, reading a newspaper. He poured some of the already brewed coffee in a mug and went to meet him.

"Buongiorno" Lovino greeted him.

"Good morning, Lovino!" Gilbert greeted back and sighed deeply sitting down on a chair and bringing the mug to his lips. "Mmmm! Thanks for the coffee!" he said as its strong aroma reached him.

"You're welcome." Lovino folded his newspaper.

"What happened today? No early training?"

"Look at the sea, Gilbert! It's not a good day for a class." he pointed towards the view in front of them.

Gilbert noticed the white waves that rolled on the sand upturning it and spiting sea weeds on the shore, and shivered. "Good we don't have a lesson, because I wouldn't have entered the water today even if you paid me!"

"We could still go, you know, despite the wind" Lovino smirked. "You could jump over the waves close to the shore like all the other children will be doing. Or you could make sand castles with Feli, and decorate them with pebbles!"

"Ha ha!" Gilbert fake-laughed. "Not that I wouldn't be excellent at that too, it would also look great on my blog…" he admitted. " You know, I could show off my inner child and how fun I am and how sincere my feelings and innocent my heart is…"

"Eh, stop it already with all that self advertising…" Lovino said smiling. "We already know you're a good guy …"

"Only when my battle awesomeness doesn't need to be on the surface!" Gilbert said, laughing.

"Your battle awesomeness better stay hidden or I'll call the children from the other day… and it won't be beautiful!" Lovino warned, reminding Gilbert of his severest critics on this excursion. "They surely can rip even your self-esteem in tiny pieces…"

"Come on, don't make them sound so bad!" came the complaint from the Prussian. "I'm pretty sure they were joking!"

"How would you know?" Lovino asked. "For all you know we're all like that here in southern Italy. Maybe we train our kids to be cynical and snippy."

"If one judges from you, you all have slight attitude issues, but deep down you are welcoming and warm!" Gilbert said, leaning forward and batting his eyelids.

"Gee, we better wipe the floor, you're drooling for attention and we might slip and break a leg!" Lovino concluded, casually bringing his hand over his face to cover his smile. "Anyway, where are our brothers? I bet Germany is having the worst vacation of his life. I'm fairly sure he wakes up at six every morning but does not dare show his face here until Feli is awake, so give or take four hours of waiting…"

"No, he needs his beauty sleep alright!" Gilbert informed. "And he misses going to bed early these last few nights."

"Unlike you, who will sleep whenever and wherever!" Lovino retorted.

Gilbert smiled mischievously: "Only when the pillow is comfortable!"

Lovino blushed. "Shut up, moron! It's my fault I didn't push you off to fall and sleep on the floor last night! My shoulder hurts if you want to know!"

Gilbert was fast to reply: "I could help you with that, among my other qualities I'm a good masseur!"

Lovino rolled his eyes, while the sound of Ludwig and Feliciano coming down the stairs saved him from having to answer.

"Good morning, everyone!" Feliciano greeted cheerfully. He served coffee for him and Ludwig and they joined the other too on the table on the balcony. "What are going to do today?" he asked. "I don't feel like going to the beach in this windy weather!"

"We had thought as much!" Lovino answered. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Well yes!" Feli replied. "I thought we could go and see that ancient temple dedicated to Hera you took me to some years ago-"

"This sounds nice!" agreed Ludwig.

"… and later at that cave you always promise to take me and then claim we never have time?" Feliciano finished, not forgetting to regale his brother with an all sweet, but fake innocent smile.

"And I'd love that!" Gilbert said. "Can we do both?" he asked looking at the others, but his eyes quickly resting on Lovino.

"We'll spend most of the day in the car…" Lovino muttered, thinking, and instantly, he added, excited now: "But it's worth it! _I_ 'll drive!"

Ludwig seemed a bit uneasy. "Are you sure, Lovino? These must be a lot of hours of driving…"

"Positive! Not negotiable." Lovino confirmed in a threatening tone. "No foreign hands will touch the steering wheel of my Fiat!" he hissed.

Ludwig conceded, but Gilbert could see his brother was already preparing himself mentally for Lovino's reckless driving.

"I call dibs for the seat next to Ludwig, ve!" Feliciano said suddenly.

"Oh no! Such a loss for the rest of us!" Lovino sighed over-dramatically, while Ludwig smiled at Feli imperceptibly.

"But be careful, brother!" Feliciano gave his signature too-innocent-to-be-real smile as he stood up, "Don't let Gilbert sleep on your shoulder while you're driving; it could be dangerous!"

Gilbert felt that his face probably had the same colour as Lovino's right then, the shade of a lobster in particular. They both pretended they didn't hear a thing, and left to prepare themselves for the excursion.

The road to the ancient theatre was narrow and winding. Gilbert saw that reckless as Lovino may be as a driver, he was the better choice, as he knew all the roads by heart and was familiar with the way the drivers in this area were behaving. Ludwig driving would have been safer, maybe, but it would have taken much longer to reach their destination.

The scenery they drove through was alternating between dry wheat fields, speckled with wild poppies, orange and olive trees, and sparse pine vegetation. The group of four had to drive up a steep hill to find the ancient temple, which was quite well preserved. Feliciano kept taking pictures of everything and everyone, most of them featuring him and Ludwig and some part of the temple or other.

Ludwig googled the temple and gave them some basic idea of the history of the place. Gilbert could see that Lovino was –with great difficulty- holding back not to add to his narration or correct him. For all they knew Lovino was around when the place was built.

While waiting for Feli to take a few more photos of his boyfriend in front of every little detail, Gilbert and Lovino slowly headed back to the car. A stray dog came near them to beg for some food and they fed it anything they could find in the car. When their brothers joined them, they hopped on the car again and drove off towards the cave.

They reached the place after a couple of hours, and, when they paid for their tickets, got inside. The cave was everything a speleologist would have asked for. They saw stalagmites and stalactites of various sizes and morphologies, and rode with a small boat to pass through the flooded parts of the cave. It was almost an hour of guided tour during which Gilbert asked a lot of questions. He would have sneaked through to the part of the cave that was not included in the tour had he been visiting alone. It was an experience worth the while, they all agreed.

By the time they were done with the visit, they were famished. They bought some juice and water from a canteen nearby, and continued to find a small, picturesque village on a mountain, much closer to home, that Lovino wanted to take them to.

The trip there was a small chaos. Feliciano was complaining that the fruit juice had only increased his appetite, and wanted to make a stop at one of the bakeries by the road to buy some bread. Gilbert was changing the radio channels every few seconds trying to find something on which they would all agree to listen to, and insisted on spreading his legs on the dashboard of the car, much to Lovino's annoyance. Lovino was telling everyone off, even if he tried to make it as mild as possible. Gilbert was having immense fun.

When they reached their destination they decided to explore the village first and then have a late lunch at one of the restaurants on the rim of the cliff the village hung from, and enjoy the view of the valley it offered. They walked among the whitewashed houses, and Feliciano used his camera some more. At some point, Lovino got fed up with posing for his brother, and decided he would sit down, order some food and wait for the rest of them to come. Gilbert followed him, and they walked together towards what Lovino knew to be the best restaurant of the village.

Gilbert had been thinking about Lovino's emotional instability that day, and had formed the idea that it was caused by his suspecting the Prussian had some type of romantic interest towards him. He also saw Lovino had not cursed him and kicked him out of his house, but had accepted all his small steps forward, even if reluctantly. So, it was now or never, he decided, and was determined to push his luck a bit further, first chance he got.

"I love Feli, but he is quite tiring!" said Lovino, signaling to the waiter to come as they were sitting down in the restaurant's yard. "Do you remember how much he complained about being hungry just half an hour ago? He made my ears bleed! Now he's taking photographs and jumping around the village's steep paths like a wild goat""

Gilbert laughed. "What can you do? Younger brothers…they complain a lot…"

Lovino looked at him. "Yours too? I didn't think he was the complaining type."

"He doesn't do it with words most of the times…" Gilbert explained. "It shows in his eyes mostly" he said, pointing towards his upper face, grinning.

Their guffaw echoed to the void in front of them.

Gilbert admired the wonderful view of the villages scattered in the valley and hills below their feet while Lovino was ordering food for all of them.

"That's another defect of him I was not aware of!" Lovino remarked. "I hope he doesn't bother my brother too much with his nagging!"

"I beg your pardon!" Gilbert said in a fake-offended way. "He's not nagging! Just mildly disapproving." And after some moments of thought he continued: "Besides, he must be doing something right! Feli adores him."

Lovino looked like he was about to explode, but spoke not.

"You can't deny that, can you?" Gilbert asked with a smug smile.

"Damn it, no." Lovino admitted. "He'd better be worth it, though," he added menacingly, "or else…"

"Or else?"

"If he ever hurts Feliciano he'll have to deal with me." Lovino said seriously.

"And you'll have to do with me, Don Corleone!" Gilbert retorted. "Don't you think I love my brother enough to defend him?" he asked. "And you know as well as I do, this relationship is here to stay. None of them would hurt the other. So you can bury the hatchet of war!"

Lovino took his time to answer. "I don't work with hatchets. I'm a rifle kind of guy." He said in a mocking tone. And then more seriously: "I truly hope you're right about them, though."

"Of course I am! I always am!"

"Hardly!" Lovino smiled arching his eyebrows.

"Besides, don't you think I'd reprove him if he ever hurt Feli? Luddy is my brother, and it's my job to teach him how to treat people right!" Gilbert said, a little offended. There was a pause, as if the Prussian had suddenly realized something, and he asked, suspiciously: "What about you? What did you teach Feli?"

"The same thing! To treat people right!" Lovino answered. "The important ones, though, I don't care what he does with your brother!"

"Boy, your heart is closed for Ludwig! Why? He's practically your brother in law!"

Lovino huffed. At that point the first part of their order was brought by the waiter who swiftly disappeared again.

"You want to know why I don't like your brother?" Lovino resumed their conversation. "I don't like him because when he's there Feliciano can pay attention to nothing else" he explained. "And my brother had no use of more air headedness!"

Gilbert nodded in understanding and filled their glasses with white wine. Looking to the view ahead he admitted: "They _both_ are complete dorks when they are together… but I am kind of jealous of them."

"Them who?" Lovino asked, astonished. "Do you mean the silly duet? The hungry assholes who nevertheless don't show up for food? The guys who are so absorbed with each other that didn't notice you knew not how to fucking swim and haven't even realized I've been teaching you, and even if they did notice they never bothered to say anything about it? Do you mean the constantly talking buffoon who invited you here and then left you to me to entertain and hardly ever spoken to your sorry ass or mine since, and the wall of flesh you call your brother who doesn't take one step separately from my stupid brother? You're jealous of _these_ guys?" He sighed, shaking his head with disapproval.

Gilbert was laughing heartily by the end of Lovino's complaint. "Yes, these guys! They're so into a universe of their own when they are together because they love each other!"

Lovino pretended to gag.

"Yes they love each other, and that's what I'm jealous of." Gilbert said. "You may find it funny, but I'd not mind at all trying that out. Not the love-you-so-much-I-can't-see-anything-else thing, exactly," Gilbert explained beginning to chew on some bread, "but all the rest."

"I, I see…" Lovino stuttered now. "I thought you were a lone wolf and needed nobody and all that shit…"

Gilbert saw Lovino had accepted all his small steps forward so far, so he decided to keep going. "I don't need anybody, this is still me we're talking about!" he bragged in his usual, obnoxious tone. "But if I could find someone good, someone trustworthy, I wouldn't be stupid enough to say no." he finished somewhat softly.

Lovino was persistently looking at his plate now.

Gilbert thought for a while, rubbing his chin." Hmm… maybe you can take your revenge by doing the same thing to Ludwig!"

Lovino's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?" he asked, confused. His eyes widened at laughing Gilbert's answer.

"Do exactly the same thing! Make someone Ludwig cares about be so absorbed with you, they won't pay any attention to Ludwig when you're around!"


End file.
